Zaenuddin Hudi Prasojo

Ph.D student and Teacher at Pontianak State College for Islamic Studies

2009/2010: I decided to continue my study to support my academic career as a lecturer at my home institution by rejoining the Graduate School of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta as a Ph. D student. For this doctoral program, I intend to combine the two disciplines of Masters I got from the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS) and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) by working on indigenous traditions and environmental conflict in West Borneo, particularly with the Katab Kebahan Dayak community in Melawi Regency in upper Kapuas River.

While in this program, I published my first English book entitled Riots on the News in West Borneo, ISBN: 978-97924-8476-4, December 2008. It was published by my home institution in Pontianak where I serve as a lecturer through its STAIN Press (STAIN Pontianak stands for Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri).

As a doctoral student, I have participated in international academic activities including fellowships and conferences. In 2009 I was selected to be one among Asian Fellows at Asia Research Institute (ARI) of the National University of Singapore (NUS). I spent three months of library research in Singapore for my dissertation proposal preparation.

For this academic year 2009/2010 I am in Oxford under an honor grant, Visiting Research Fellowship organized by the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, the University of Oxford. The fellowship is intended to support my dissertation research and enrich my knowledge with library access and interactions with international scholars in Oxford.

I hope to complete my doctoral program in 2011.

August 2008: Following graduation, I returned to my position at Pontianak State College for Islamic Studies in West Borneo. I am teaching the course in Comparative Religions and another in Research Methodology, and I’m developing a new course in Education and Peacebuilding.

I am also responsible for developing a special program, the Visiting Research Center. This program invites people interested in doing research in issues related to Indonesia, particularly in Borneo, to join with people in the college as well as in West Borneo.

A third responsibility is the NGO Forum for Interfaith and Culture of Borneo (FIC Borneo). You can learn more about this NGO at www.ficborneo.org

My background includes receiving my first MA from Universitas Gadjah Mada’s Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies with a scholarship from the Ministry of Education of Indonesia, teaching for five years at Pontianak State College for Islamic Studies, and then the Fulbright Fellowship which took me to the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at EMU.